Cup of Joe: Is “April Fools” Good Marketing? Just Plain Fun? Or None Of The Above?

So, by now you are probably sick of all the April Fools jokes that are circling the Internet. To be honest, my contempt for all the jokes started last year. I mean seriously, isn’t this getting kind of old? Why are we fawning over these ridiculous jokes? And isn’t a bit cliche to pull a prank on the only day of the year reserved for it? It seems that if your company really wanted to gain attention from a prank they would stage one in July, or a time of the year that isn’t known for this type of foolishness. But, despite my disgust for these time wasters, I have put together a short list of this years highlights. Let me know what you think of each.

Klout’s new SMS analyst tool. – This one is again borderline believable seeing how Klout has built a business around fooling everyone with their pointless metrics.

Youtube celebrates its 100th anniversary. – being the steampunk fanboy that I am, I enjoyed this one, and it looks like you can continue to add &vintage=1911 at the end of any YouTube url to turn the video into a silent old timey film.

So when do you prank, and when do you not? Well, heres a tip. People love to be entertained and they hate to be lied to. So if your prank is entertaining to everyone involved, then you are doing good work. If you are just spreading fake news and gossip to attract links and eyeballs, then you aren’t building trust and engaging your audience correctly. Marketing is about leavening relationships, not ruining them.

Good points Joe. If the only inconvenience to your April Fools gag is a few clicks and the result is a smile, laugh, or even a “forward”, then you’ve done good work. Especially so if the gag is consistent with your brand’s personality. On the other hand, if the inconvenience is bigger, the result less pleasing, and the gag out of character, you probably do far more damage to your brand than good. Even if it is funny.